


How To: A Compilation of 'How To' Guides by the Sides (and Thomas)

by IsaacTheGreat69



Series: Toddler!Virgil AU [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Dinosaurs, Minor Swearing, Museums, Rabid Dog - Freeform, Reckless Behavior, Scary situation, Some crying, Toys, Virgil kicks a couch, Wetting, cuteness, historically inaccurate recreations, lying (little white lies from Thomas), they go to the Imagination, virgil is a very energetic and sassy 4 year-old
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2020-05-12 05:39:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19222732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsaacTheGreat69/pseuds/IsaacTheGreat69
Summary: What do The Sides (and Thomas) all do to cheer up Virgil when he’s sad, angry, or down? Well, they’ll tell ya!





	1. How To: Cheer Up The Distressed Toddler

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter is unrelated, but they’re all going to be How To guides.
> 
> Ages: Thomas: 14, Virgil: 3, Logan: 20, Patton: 20, Roman: 12

## 

**Patton: Jokes! And Hugs And Cuddles And Movies And-**

“Daddy…” Patton looks up from where he’s sitting on his bed, watching Spongebob Squarepants on his TV. Virgil stands in the doorway in a long-sleeved purple shirt and black flannel pajama bottoms, dragging his stuffed bat Mr. Flappy beside him. He sniffles and rubs at his nose and Patton notices the tears in his eyes, getting up to crouch in front of the toddler.

“What’s goin’ on, kiddo?”

Virgil sniffles again and holds Mr. Flappy out to Patton by his wing. “I- I spill gooce on Missew Fwappy.”

Patton frowns. “You spilled juice on Mr. Flappy?” He knows what Virgil said (he knows his kiddo well enough), but Logan had said rephrasing his sentences both ‘reduces miscommunication and provides a correct model for grammar and speech sounds’. Virgil nods and Patton gently takes the bat stuffy from the toddler, and yep, his little black tummy was all wet. Okay….

“I’m gonna have to wash Mr. Flappy, so you won’t be able to play with him for a little bit, okay?”

Virgil whines and stomps his bare foot on the carpet. “Noooooooo!” His eyes shine with the threat of tears and Patton rushes to reassure him.

“It won’t take very long, I promise! You’ll have him back before you know it!”

“Noooo!” Virgil sits down and hiccups, scrubbing at his eyes as tears start falling. Patton purses his lips and scoops Virgil up, carrying the crying toddler with him as he goes to put the bat plush in the washing machine. He makes sure to add the lavender scented detergent that Virgil likes before he starts the washer, then carries Virgil back to his room and sits on his bed.

“Hey Virge, how does a penguin build their house?”

Virgil wipes his eyes and looks up at Patton. “I ‘unno.”

Patton grins. “Igloos it together!”

Virgil blinks up at him and sniffles. Yeah, maybe that was a little beyond his years.

“Okay okay. Uhm…. Knock, knock!”

“…Whozewe?”

“Banana!”

Virgil scrunches his lips. “Nana who?”

Patton grins. “Knock, knock!”

Virgil’s eyebrows pinch, and he looks confused, but at least he’s stopped crying. “Whozewe?”

“Banana!” Patton tries not to laugh too soon, biting his lip.

“…..Nana who…?”

“Knock, knock!”

Virgil huffs. “Whozewe?”

“Orange.”

Virgil blinks, thrown off. “….Owang who?”

“Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?”

Virgil giggles, and Patton smiles, pulling the toddler to sit in the dip of his crossed legs. “Wanna watch Camp Lazlo and cuddle?” Virgil nods and snuggles closer to Patton, who wraps his arms around the toddler and changes the channel to Camp Lazlo.

**Logan: Provide Positive Physical Stimulus As A Distraction**

Logan wandered into the mindscape commons on his way to the kitchen, too mentally preoccupied to bother with sinking in and out of rooms. He grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water, taking a drink while he looked for something simple to take back to his room. He had to finish going through the mindscape’s library to properly prepare Thomas for his history test in a couple days.

A sudden thump from the commons made him pause his search, standing still silently to listen. Another thump. And another, and another. Logan’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It was rhythmic, so whatever it was it wasn’t someone falling and hurting themselves. Should he look into it?

He was going to look into it.

He sets his glass down and wanders into the commons, pausing at the sight before him. Virgil, sweet, anxious, small Virgil, is kicking the couch repeatedly, face red and scrunched with anger. Logan can’t recall a time he’s ever witnessed an angry Virgil (tantrums aside), and he can’t imagine what would cause such a phenomena. That being said, he must find out. For science.

Logan crossed the commons to sit on the couch beside the section Virgil was kicking, watching him for a moment before speaking up. “May I ask what has made you so angry?”

Virgil huffs and kicks the couch again. “Oman bein mean.” Kick.

“Roman is being mean? How so?” Logan could imagine a plethora of scenarios. While they largely got along because Roman would indulge Virgil’s playful moods, their spats were…. Memorable. A certain blackout incident comes to mind.

Kick.

“Won’ lemme be pincess.” He huffs.

Kick.

Logan blinks. Is that it? “I don’t see why that is an issue. He is right; princesses are female.”

Kick.

“Wanna be pincess!”

“Virgil… That isn’t how it works. Princes are boys and princesses are girls. Princes save princesses. That is how things are.” Logan was honestly baffled he had to explain this. Wasn’t it common knowledge?

“Vat dumb! Wanna be pincess!”

Logan sighs. Apparently there was no getting through to him. Perhaps a distraction was in order until this could be solved by someone with more finesse.

“Would you like to know a secret?”

Virgil looks up at Logan curiously and nods. Logan summons a purple anti-stress mesh ball (downsized for small hands) and holds it out to Virgil. “This is a magic ball. If you squeeze it as hard as you possibly can, it steals your anger and makes it disappear. Would you like to try?” Virgil stares at the ball with wide eyes, mystified, and nods. Logan places it in his hand and mimes squeezing a ball in his own. “Like this. As hard as you can.”

Virgil does as he’s directed and his eyes widen even more at the small orbs that squeeze through the netting. He releases his grip and watches in fascination as the orbs shrink and disappear. He does it again, smiling slightly. Logan watches carefully the whole time; while it isn’t prone to popping and it doesn’t have easily broken small components, he wants to be sure that Virgil doesn’t try to stick it in his mouth. The slime is toxic, after all.

When Virgil finally stops and looks up at Logan, Logan gives him a soft smile. “Do you feel better now?” Virgil nods. “That is good. May I hold onto that for you? I promise that you can use it whenever you’d like, but I want to be sure that it is kept safe.” Virgil hesitates, rolling the ball around in his hand.

“…Pomise?”

“I promise.”

Virgil hands it back, then runs off to color. Logan tucks the ball in his pocket and makes a note to inform Patton of the possibility of additional sensory toys for Virgil.

**Roman: Laughter Is The Best Medicine!**

A small smudge of purple moving about the hallway caught Roman’s eye and he looked over from organizing his Disney posters. His eyes caught on the sight of Virgil ambling down the hall, droopy shoulders, dragging footsteps, and downcast eyes. Roman rose an eyebrow in surprise and curiosity; Virgil is rarely this…. flat. Even when he’s sad he’s full of energy, crying loudly and calling for Patton. This is just… unsettling.

The toddler disappears from sight, continuing on his aimless trek down the hall, and Roman finds himself following out of curiosity. Virgil walks up to his bedroom door - which Patton must have shut - and reaches up to open it. He struggles with the round handle for about thirty seconds before giving up and sighing, turning around to head back the way he came.

He passes by Roman without even looking at him, and now Roman is really concerned. He rushes to stop Virgil with a hand on his shoulder, squatting next to him. What can he do to help? What is he supposed to- oh! Perfect! He smiles at the purple-clad toddler.

“Hey Virgil! Wanna come to the imagination with me? I wanna show you something fun.”

Virgil mumbles something incoherent and shrugs, heading for Roman’s door. Roman takes that as a yes and follows him in, moving to the door to the imagination in the corner of his room and taking a moment to create the scene on the other side before opening the door.

On the other side of the door is Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends. As in the entire home, imaginary friends and all. It’s Roman and Virgil’s favorite show to watch together; he even helped Virgil design an imaginary friend (that he may or may not be planning to create. He’s trying, he has to work out some bugs though). Every imaginary friend shown on the show is present, as well as a few that Roman made up himself when inspiration struck. He looked back at Virgil to gauge his reaction, smiling.

Virgil walks into the imagination, looking around at all of the imaginary friends. His expression isn’t so flat anymore, but nowhere near where Roman wants it. Roman hums to himself in thought and waves a hand.

Coco, Wilt, Eduardo and Bloo all come down the stairs, chatting excitedly with each other. Virgil watches with rapt attention, his head tilting up up up as they grow closer and Wilt begins to look bigger.

Wilt was always his favorite.

“Hey, how ya doin’? Name’s Wilt.” Wilt smiles down at Virgil and Virgil’s mouth drops open slightly. Wilt bends down and picks up Virgil, who fits in his hand, and looks at him face-to-face. “Are you alright? Was that okay?” Virgil nods dumbly and next thing anyone knows Virgil is hugging Wilt tightly.

Wilt looks just as surprised as Roman but he rubs Virgil’s back gently. “You wanna come play with us? Would that be alright?” Virgil nods against his chest and he smiles. “Alright, let’s go then.” The group of friends - plus the two sides - start walking to the backyard. Wilt has his arm relaxed, but is still holding Virgil, so it’s almost like a swing. Virgil has a small smile on his face, gripping Wilts arm with one hand just above his sweatband.

“Coco coco coco?”

Virgil laughs. “Yeah!”

Roman feels a tension leaves his shoulders that he didn’t even know was there.

**Thomas: …..Presents?**

About a week ago, Thomas had been watching over Virgil (the other sides left the two alone more often after the Disney Incident, as Patton calls it. Not that either boy was complaining) and had decided to have a relaxing movie marathon. Of course, he’d picked Disney - it had nothing to do with the fact that most of the VHS tapes were Disney. Nope.  - and set up a decent lineup of what he thought Virgil might enjoy.

The toddler was decently entertained, as they often are by animated movies, but the movie he liked the most was The Jungle Book.

Now, it wasn’t the plot, or the songs that reached out to the small side. No, the reason Virgil loved The Jungle Book was because of a specific character.

The snake, Ka.

Thomas didn’t really know why (he himself preferred Baloo) but he wasn’t going to take away the finer pleasures of life; if Virgil liked the snake, that was fine with him. In fact, he’d actually had the idea to give Virgil a Ka of his own. It had taken some convincing since his mom didn’t like snakes, but he’d finally gotten a stuffy of a python and was just waiting for the right moment to give it to Virgil.

That moment seemed to present itself when Patton had to hand Thomas a crying Virgil. Patton and Logan were taking care of some stuff that would take a few hours (Thomas hadn’t really been listening) and Thomas had agreed to watch Virgil, but Patton and Virgil had been in the middle of marathoning Camp Lazlo when Patton had to go, and Virgil hadn’t liked that. Patton kept apologizing as he pried a crying Virgil’s hands from his polo and handed him over, but Thomas assured Patton it wasn’t a problem. Patton sank out, leaving Thomas and Virgil alone.

Thomas sets Virgil on his bed, smiling down at him. “Hey, it’s okay Virge, you’re okay.” He rubs the toddler’s back soothingly until his sobs die down and he’s just crying silently.

“I got you a present, you wanna see it?”

Virgil wipes his eyes and sucks in a shaky breath, nodding. Thomas grins and moves to his closet. “Close your eyes~.” Virgil giggles through his tears and puts his hands over his eyes, and Thomas reaches into his closet, pulling out the snake plush. He walks over to the bed and holds the face right in front of Virgil’s face. “Okay, open ‘em!”

Virgil’s squeal and sheer look of delight make the extra chores  _so_ worth it.


	2. How To: Help Your Toddler After an Accident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you handle your toddler after they wet the bed, or themselves? Just ask Patton and Roman!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages:
> 
> Patton's part:   
> Thomas: 14, Virgil: 3, Logan and Patton: 20, Roman: 12
> 
> Roman's part:  
> Thomas: 13, Virgil: 2, Logan: 19, Patton: 19, Roman: 11

**Pat** **ton: A Nice Warm Bath :)**

Patton knocks on Virgil’s door, opening it quietly and peeking his head in. “Viiiiiirgiiiiil~.” He grins, stepping into the room and walking up to Virgil’s bed. The toddler whines and curls into himself, bunching the blankets up around him and holding them close to his chest. Patton frowns. “Virge, honey? Are you okay?” Virgil just whines again and presses his face into his pillow.

Patton frowns, reaching out and gently gripping the blanket, prying it out of Virgil’s hands. The toddler lets out a pathetic whimper as he’s exposed and Patton gasps softly in surprise at what he finds. 

Virgil lays in the middle of the bed, the purple sheets around him dark and wet. He’d apparently had an accident in his sleep, and judging by how uncomfortable he seemed, it probably happened a while ago. Patton frowns, voicing his confusion. “Virge, why didn’t you come get me if you had an accident, kiddo? It can’t be comfy to lay in wet sheets like that.”

Virgil sniffles, rubbing his eyes. “I ‘unno…” 

Patton’s frown deepens and he restrains a sigh. "Okay. How about we get these sheets and your clothes in the wash, then you can take a bath?" Virgil slowly sits up and sniffles, nodding. He goes to rub his eyes but Patton catches his hands. "Oh, baby, no, don't do that. You have peepee on your hands!" 

Instead of making him smile like Patton had hoped, the comment makes Virgil's lip wobbles dangerously. "'M sowwy…" 

Patton quickly scoops Virgil up, heedless of his soggy pants as he holds him. "It's okay baby, I'm not mad. I just don't want you to hurt your eyes, okay?" He kisses the top of Virgil's head, and Virgil nods. "Okay. Now I'm gonna set you down and get the sheets off the bed, okay? You can walk with me to the washer but I can't carry you." 

Virgil lets out a pitiful little whine, his face scrunching up unhappily, but he nods all the same. Patton practically sighs with relief and quickly pulls the sheets from the bed, balling them up so he doesn't have pee-covered fabric touching his arms. He and Virgil walk down the hall to the washing machine and Virgil watches as Patton loads the sheets in. Once that's done, Patton smiles down at the toddler and crouches down to his level. "Okay, time for your clothes. Arms up baby."

Virgil raises his arms so Patton can pull his shirt off, then steps out of his pants and underwear with Patton's prompting. Patton tosses the clothes in and starts the washer. "Okay. Bath time!" 

That finally gets a smile out of Virgil. Bath time was one of his favorite things; he loved playing with the bubbles. He skip-runs to the bathroom, Patton following behind with a highly amused expression. They pass Logan just before they reach the bathroom and Logan just shakes his head with a smile. "Have fun, you two." 

Virgil giggles and slips into the bathroom, Patton calling, "We will!" Before joining him.

Virgil is a restless mess while Patton's getting the bath ready, accident all but forgotten. Patton helps Virgil into the tub once it's ready and Virgil slaps the water happily. "Baf time, baf time!" He cheers, giggling to himself. Patton coos over the sight, brushing Virgil's wavy hair out of his face. 

**Roman: Slay the Beast, Protect the Prince!**

A shrill scream and loud crying catch Roman's attention. He jumps up from his position of laying on his stomach writing in his room and runs for his sword which he left leaning against his unused desk. Roman sinks into the commons, ready to fight.

At first, Roman is confused. Virgil stands alone in the commons, staring up at the TV looking absolutely terrified. On the TV, which can double as a viewing screen into Thomas's world, is a large angry dog barking at (presumably from the angle) Thomas. Virgil's eyeshadow, which is usually so light it's unnoticeable, is dark under his eyes. That gets Roman moving.

Roman rushes over to Virgil, crouching in front of him. He blocks Virgil's view of the TV, forcing the scared toddler's attention on him. "Hey, it's okay! It's okay, we're safe. The big mean dog can't hurt you."

The dog barks and snarls. Thomas lets out a choked scream. Virgil cowers.

Roman reaches out hesitantly. "... Can I touch you? Do you want a hug, Vee?" Virgil whimpers and shakes his head, hugging himself. Roman nods, dropping his hand. "Okay, no touching. Wanna go watch a movie? Talk to Patton? Play with Wilt?"

Virgil sucks in a breath, his bottom lip trembling. "T-T-Tommy."

Roman's heart nearly melts. Even scared out of his mind, Virgil is worried about Thomas. Roman nods, taking a deep breath. He straightens up and tightens his grip on his sword. "I'll protect Thomas! I'll protect both of you!" He turns to face the TV. His heart races with fear, but he doesn't know if it's his or Thomas's. He clears his throat.  _ I can do this. _

"Thomas, pick up that big stick."

Thomas slowly and shakily picks up a large stick to his right. The dog barks and shifts, looking ready to attack. Roman swallows.

"Away with you foul beast! Leave my friends alone!" He commands in a fierce voice, swinging his sword. Thomas mimics his movement with the stick, hitting the dog in the face. The stick scratches its eye and it whimpers, then turns and runs away. Thomas lets out a loud sigh, collapsing to the sidewalk, sitting on the warm concrete and staring at the sky.

Roman, satisfied with the turn of events, turns around to check on Virgil. It's then that he notices that Virgil's pants are wet. Poor thing. Roman crouches in front of Virgil and wipes his tears with his thumbs. "Hey, it's okay. You're safe now, and so is Thomas. See?" He gestures to the TV where Thomas is starting to get to his feet, completely okay if a little shaken. 

Virgil sniffles and nods. He looks up at Roman. "I sowwy Oman." 

Roman tilts his head. "Why are you sorry, Vee?"

"I peepeed."

Roman sighs softly. "It's okay, you were scared. It happens to everyone! Even Logan." He whispers the last part conspiratorially and Virgil giggles. Roman rises to his feet and offers his hand. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up, then we can have ice cream, okay?"

Virgil nods and takes Roman's hand with a smile. "Tanks pince Oman."

Roman squeezes Virgil's hand lightly. "You're the real prince, Virgil. I'm just your faithful knight."


	3. How To: Engage in Topics of Interest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil gets into dinosaurs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thomas: 15, Virgil: 4, Logan: 21, Patton: 21, Roman: 13

**Logan: Provide Additional Relevant Information To Spark Discussion**

 

Logan stands in the kitchen brewing a pot of coffee while Virgil plays with his small plastic toy dinosaurs in the living room. Logan smiles softly as he listens to Virgil growl and roar quietly, not wanting to be too loud and wake Daddy (who was grumpy if woken up unnaturally). He’d noticed Virgil’s newest fascination, and it was a rather typical one for young boys to have. Perhaps Patton got him the toys. Once the coffee is ready he pours himself a cup and makes his way to the living room, glancing over at Virgil on his way to the couch.

Virgil is sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by about a dozen dinosaurs with two in his hands, a Brachiosaurus and a T-Rex. He’s making the Brachiosaurus attack the T-Rex and Logan raises an eyebrow. Well that isn’t right… He sets his coffee down and walks over, sitting across from the toddler. “Virgil, that Brachiosaurus would never attack a T-Rex, it’s an herbivore.”

Virgil just blinks up at him blankly. Logan sighs. “This one,” he taps the Brachiosaurus’ head. “Wouldn’t attack or eat this one,” he taps the T-Rex.

Virgil blinks again. “.... Wassa ebwhowe?”

Logan’s eyes widen and he clears his throat. “A-An  _ herbivore  _ is an animal that only eats plants; leaves, and grass. Fruit counts, but I do not know if dinosaurs ate fruit. A carnivore is an animal that only eats meat, which is other animals. And an omnivore eats both.” Virgil nods very seriously and taps his Brachiosaurus’ head. “Brachiosaurus, it eats tree leaves,” Logan says with a small smile. Virgil taps the T-Rex. “Tyrannosaurus Rex, or T-Rex. They eat other dinosaurs.” Virgil holds out a duck-billed dinosaur with short, blunt front legs. “Edmontosaurus, an herbivore.” Virgil holds out a dinosaur with a large plate-like appendage along the back of its head topped with two horns, a third horn on its nose. “Triceratops. They are also herbivores, and graze on tall grasses. Carnivores are the dinosaurs with sharp, pointy teeth. Can you guess which of your dinosaurs are carnivores?”

Virgil looks over his dinosaurs, picking up each one to carefully look over it. He sets three dinosaurs in front of Logan and the logical side smiles. “Very good job identifying traits, Virgil. These are a Spinosaurus, a Megalosaurus, and a Baryonyx, which ate fish.” He pointed to each dinosaur as he named it, Virgil glued to his every word. When he’s done, Virgil points at Logan. 

“Is Logan Canobowe?”

Logan chuckles. “No, I am an omnivore, as are all humans. We eat both plants and meat.” 

Virgil looks down at his toys in thought. “.... Is Mistew Flappy a…. Ebebowe?”

Logan smiles proudly. “Yes, Mr. Flappy eats plants.”

Patton comes wandering into the living room and smiles down at the pair. “There’s the two smartest boys I know! What’re ya talkin’ bout?”

Virgil jumps excitedly to his feet and runs to Patton, hugging his legs. “Imma ommibowe!”

 

**Patton: Listen Enthusiastically Even If You Don’t Get It**

 

Patton chuckles and scoops Virgil up, resting the growing toddler on his hip, thinking to himself that Virgil was starting to get too big. “Oh yeah? What’s that, kiddo?”

“Logan says ommibowes eat plants and meat!”

Patton gasps dramatically, moving with Virgil to the kitchen to make breakfast. Logan, satisfied that Virgil is being entertained, sits on the couch with a book. “Wow, really? That’s really cool, Virge! What kinds of plants and meat do you want for breakfast?” Virgil wiggles out of his hold and runs back into the living room, grabbing his T-Rex and Brachiosaurus before running back to Patton. He walks the dinosaurs across the counter, making growling and roaring sounds. 

“Teewex wants Emmonto!” He growls.

Patton chuckles awkwardly. Emmonto? “I… I dunno if we have that, kiddo…”

Virgil thinks for a moment before running back into the living room and comes back with his Edmontosaurus. “Emmonto!”

The older side smiles, sighing softly. “Virge, we don’t have dinosaurs in our fridge! Will Mr. T-Rex like bacon and eggs?”

Virgil converses with his T-Rex for a moment before he nods up at Patton. “Fank you Daddy!” He kisses Patton’s hand like Roman showed him and trots over to the kitchen table with his toys, continuing to play while Patton gets breakfast together. Patton sighs fondly and begins cooking breakfast. 

(∩ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)⊃━☆ﾟ

Virgil chatters excitedly all through breakfast, headless of the fact that the older sides can see the food in his mouth or how that fact disgusts Logan. 

“-And canibowes have shawp teef! Dey use ‘em to wip ovew animals apawt and eat dem! An’ Teewexes aw canibowes, an’ Spinos, an’ Megalosaws, an’ Bawyx! But dat one eats fishies, not dinos.” He says the last part with grave seriousness.

“You’re so smart kiddo! But if you keep talking your dinos are gonna eat all your food!”

Virgil gasps and finally stops talking, eating fervently.

The three older sides sigh in relief, though Patton was smiling fondly at his little boy.

 

**Roman: Hands-On Experience!!!!**

 

Roman hums as he walks through the common area, a slight skip to his step. He has to stop on a dime, nearly stepping on Virgil in his exuberance. Virgil is laying on his stomach in the middle of the floor, feet swinging in the air behind him as he “reads” a dinosaur book, flipping between the pages to look at all the different dinosaurs. He completely forgets what he was doing, crouching beside the toddler. “Hey Virge, what’cha readin buddy?”

“It’s a dino book, duh,” he says, not bothering to look up from the T-Rex picture he was studying. Roman huffs at the amount of sass coming from this little four year-old. Whatever happened to the adorable little storm cloud that would color Disney pictures with him and hung onto his every word? He missed when he would tell stories of princesses and knights, and when Virgil would join him in the Imagination.

Wait, that’s it!

“Hey Virge, wanna see a  _ real  _ dinosaur?”

Virgil looks up at Roman with a mix of curiosity and excitement.

(∩ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)⊃━☆ﾟ

As soon as the door to the Imagination is open Virgil is running off into the tall grass, looking around excitedly at all the strange plants and creatures surrounding them. Pterodactyls sail overhead, their shadows startling Virgil. He looks up with wide eyes and cries out in joy as he watches them fly off. 

Roman chuckles and follows the toddler into the flatlands. There’s Brachiosauruses, Ankylosauruses, Compsognathuses, and a few other dinosaurs. Virgil giggles as a pack of Compsognathus runs past, a few feet in front of him. He turns to run after them, managing to keep up with the small dinosaurs. Roman exclaims in surprise, running after him. “Virgil!” He cries, picking up the pace when the only response he gets is cackling laughter. He manages to scoop Virgil up just as a giant grey pillar of a foot comes down right in front of them. Both sides look up with wide eyes and gaping mouths as a Brachiosaurus stands on its hind legs to reach the leaves. 

There’s a dangerous glint in Virgil’s eyes and he wiggles out of Roman’s arms, running over to the tree and starting to climb. Roman gapes at him for a moment - when did he learn to climb a tree?? - before running after him. He follows close behind Virgil, climbing up the tree. It only occurs to him when they’re about twenty feet from the ground that he can’t exactly grab Virgil and climb down. Dammit. “Virgil!”

Virgil continues to climb past the Brachiosaurus’ head. Roman feels lightheaded with worry; if something happens to Virgil he’s dead meat. He finally catches up to the toddler, who’s stopped just above the Brachiosaurus. “Virgil, we need to get down! Now! This isn’t funny!”

Virgil sticks his tongue out at Roman and climbs onto the Brachiosaurus’ head. “Yaba dabba doo!” He cries before sliding down the dinosaur’s back.

Roman feels his heart leap out of his chest and goes to grab Virgil, slipping and landing on his stomach. He slides down the Brachiosaurus’ neck head-first and for a moment he forgets that Virgil should be in trouble right now. He forgets that they could get hurt. He laughs as he slides down the dinosaur’s back, the wind rushing in his face. He sees Virgil hit solid ground and skip a few beats on his butt before coming to a stop and throwing his arms up with an excited cry. 

Roman isn’t too far behind, landing on his stomach and sliding along the ground, getting his prince outfit dirty. He doesn’t care about that though as he slides right into Virgil, scooping the toddler up and making him giggle. Once his momentum has petered out and he comes to a stop, he sits up and sets Virgil on his feet, both of them covered in dirt. “Alright mister. Ten more minutes and then we gotta take a bath before Dad catches us.” 

Virgil nods seriously before running off in the opposite direction. Roman groans and shoots to his feet. “Virgil!”

That night, conversation is dominated by Virgil excitably reliving their afternoon while Roman jumps in to assure the two older sides they were perfectly safe. Based on the looks he gets, they don’t completely believe him.

But Virgil is just too darn cute when he’s this excited.

 

**Thomas: F… Field Trip?**

 

Thomas shuffles off of the school bus along with his classmates, looking at the Greco-styled architecture of the museum. He felt a slightly uncharacteristic, child-like glee mixed with nerves and smiled a little to himself. That must be Virgil.

Patton and Logan had told Thomas about Virgil’s recent fascination with dinosaurs, and he’d of course discussed the field trip with his sides. Virgil at the time hadn’t quite understood what they were talking about at first.

_ “But Tommy,” Virgil speaks up from Patton’s lap, his feet swinging. “Dinos lived a wea- a weally weally weally long time ‘go. You can’t see ‘em no mowe.” _

_ Logan nods. “You are correct Virgil, dinosaurs no longer live on Earth. But, many of them have been fossilized in the ground and then dug up, so now we can study what their bones looked like and make guesses as to how they looked and behaved. That’s how your book was made.” _

_ Virgil hugs the book in question to his chest; a dinosaur book he’s refused to put down for anything less than going potty (for fear of making it dirty). “What's foz- fos-ul-ized?” _

_ Logan smiles fondly. “It means the ground got moved on top of them a lot over time, until it squeezed them so hard that imprints were made. Like when you walk on the beach and you can see your footprint.” _

_ Virgil nods, satisfied with his answer, and opens his book to look at the pictures again. _

Thomas smiles a little at the memory. Virgil was still more anxious than the average kid, which was to be expected given what he is, but he was still a  _ kid _ . He had obsessions and interests and likes and dislikes. 

Someone from behind bumps into Thomas, startling him out of his thoughts to see that his class was beginning to make their way inside the museum. Thomas rushes to catch up and shuffles along with the crowd until they’re all admitted and inside, when their teacher stops them to speak. 

“We’re going to split into two groups. One group will start in the West wing, and the other will start in the East wing. We’ll all meet right here for lunch, and then the groups will switch. Alright?” 

A chorus of half-hearted agreements echoes out from the crowd of teens, and the teacher nods. “Now then, I’m going to count you off. 1’s go to Mr. Edwards, 2’s stay with me.” She began to count off the students, pointing to each one and either saying ‘1’ or ‘2’. The teens who were assigned a 1 shuffled over to the other teacher heading the field trip. Of course, there were inevitably some people who tried to spread out to raise the chances they’d be in a group with their friends, and Thomas even saw a few people switch groups to be with friends, but he figured it didn’t really matter so he didn’t say anything.

Once everyone was split up, Thomas’ group headed to the East wing, and Mr. Edwards’ group headed to the West. They met up with a tour guide, who introduced herself (though Thomas wasn’t listening) and began her introductory speech about the museum. 

“Now, we like to organize our skeletons and fossils by the period they would have lived in. We also have it set up so that dinosaurs who would have lived or were discovered in similar regions are staged in the same room. This big guy right behind me is a-”

“Backiosowous!”

The people closest to Thomas - and Thomas himself - startled at the small enthusiastic voice that suddenly rang out from beside him. His teacher and the tour guide seemed to share a confused look, and Thomas was caught between being mortified over all the sudden attention and anxious over how he could possibly explain the sudden presence of a small child that looks alarmingly like him. 

Of course, Thomas getting anxious makes Virgil anxious, so it’s no surprise when his bright smile fades and he hides behind Thomas’ legs, gripping his jeans in small hands. He looks down at the ground, a pout on his lips. “I jus’ wanted to see the dinos…”

Thomas’ teacher walks over to the pair, looking confused and slightly irritated. “Thomas, do you know this little boy?”

Oh man, what is he supposed to do? Shit shit shit shit-

“He’s my little brother.”

Oh. 

“Your… brother.” She asks skeptically. Thomas just nods. “And what is your little brother doing here? He wasn’t on the bus with us.” A few of the students laugh. Thomas swallows. 

“Well, uh, he heard me talking to my parents about the field trip and wanted to come. I guess they… brought him?” He finishes weakly. His teacher just sighs. 

“Well where are they?”

Oh, shit. Didn’t think of that. Thomas crouches down to Virgil’s level, gently taking Virgil’s thumb out of his mouth and smiling at him. It’ll be okay. “Hey, buddy, you know where mom and dad are?”

Virgil’s eyebrows furrow. Mom and dad? Did he mean Patton and Logan, or  _ his  _ mom and dad? He shrugs. 

Thomas’ teacher sighs. “I suppose he may stay with you until we find them, as long as you let them know so they don’t cause a panic.” Thomas nods, sighing quietly in relief. He pulls out his phone and pretends to text his parents, then puts it away and picks Virgil up so he can see better. 

The tour guide, sensing the situation is resolved, continues on with her speech. “So this behind me is our Brachiosaurus, Benny. Benny lived in North America during the Jurasic Period - that’s about 154 million years ago…”

Virgil ended up staying for the whole field trip. He walked beside Thomas the entire time, holding his hand tightly and looking around at all of the skeletons and fossils with wide, amazed eyes. If they got pushed to the back of the group or Virgil was too small to see something, Thomas would just pick him up (this earned him some cooing from the girls in the group, but neither he nor Virgil were very interested). When the time to break for lunch came up, Thomas made up an excuse that something had come up for his parents and they couldn’t take Virgil with them, so Thomas was supposed to watch him for the rest of the day. His food came with the field trip funding and he went ahead and bought something for Virgil to eat with the money he was saving. Technically Virgil didn’t really need to eat, but he didn’t see the harm in it and people would think he was a jerk if he didn’t feed his little brother.

And the face Virgil made when the museum employee handed him dinosaur nuggets was absolutely priceless. 

By the time they’d walked through the West wing, Virgil was losing steam. He was dragging his feet a little, yawning into his little fist, and walking slowly. Thomas looked between the tired side and his rapidly departing group and picked Virgil up, carrying him on his back. Thomas was sure as soon as they sat on the bus Virgil would be out. But first, one more stop.

“Hey, Virge. C’mon buddy, don’t fall asleep yet.”

Virgil whines softly and opens his eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them with his fists and looking around. All around him were dinosaurs. Plush ones, plastic ones, even ones made of glass with colors inside and ones in snowglobes! He seemed to get a little more energy at the sight and wiggled his way down Thomas’ back, earning a laugh from the teen as he ran over to the plushies. 

“See somethin’ ya like?”

Virgil looks over the bin of dinosaurs like he’s scrutinizing diamonds, holding a hand to his chin like he’s seen Logan do. He isn’t sure why the logical side does it, but if it makes thinking easier then maybe he should try. Just when Virgil is beginning to think that he’ll be stuck in an indecisive loop, he spots the perfect one. 

Thomas smiles as Virgil pulls a Brachiosaurus out of the bin, holding it up to show him. “That the one you want?” Virgil nods. Thomas takes it from him and glances at the tag. “Oh, hey, look! His name is Benny too!”

Thomas smiles down at Virgil’s sleeping form on the ride back to the school, holding the toddler close to his chest. After he’d paid for the toy and given it back Virgil immediately hugged it close. He was still doing so even as he slept, the dinosaur’s neck between Virgil’s head and Thomas’ side. Sure, the start to the field trip had been kind of awkward and nerve-wracking, but Thomas was actually kind of glad he got to spend it with the small side. 

Now they had more stuff to talk about, at least.


End file.
